


Unearth The Tomb And Give It The Royal Treatment

by scapegoat



Series: Write The Next Chapter With Me [2]
Category: Monster High
Genre: Amulets, Curses, Developing Friendships, Magic, Music & Musicians, Phobias, World Travel, siblings being siblings, werecreatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:48:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27519382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scapegoat/pseuds/scapegoat
Summary: After being discovered by the King family, the de Niles get a second chance at (an undead) life.
Relationships: Cleo de Nile & Mouscedes King, Cleo de Nile & Nefera de Nile & Ramses de Nile, Elle Eedee & Casta Fierce & Mouscedes King & Luna Mothews & Catty Noir & Honey Swamp, Honey Swamp & Operetta, Nefera de Nile & Amanita Nightshade, Nefera de Nile & Seth Ptolemy | Pharaoh
Series: Write The Next Chapter With Me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969585
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Unearth The Tomb And Give It The Royal Treatment

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I was going to put this into the main story when I just remembered I created a series. [Cue facepalm] Anyway, I love Cleo and Nefera and this is how they learned about Legacy Isles.
> 
> Oh, disclaimer I do not own Monster High.

“ _Don’t you worry, I’ll be back in a photosynthetic flash~”_ Amanita said with a cryptic smile, slithering out of the crack in the wall. Had she not been so tired, Nefera would’ve found something suspicious about the look she was getting but she let it go. And that was her damned downfall.  
  
Worst. Birthday. Ever.  
  
Being buried alive. Entombed as that wretched uncle of theirs tried to make off with their riches.  
  
Unfortunately for that moron, he wasn’t too bright to realize they held the riches in the tomb he trapped them in. Maybe he was thinking they’d die and he’d come back and unearth the tomb?  
  
Their mother wrapped Cleo up in bandages and kissed her youngest on the forehead before running off, having their uncle and his cronies chase after her.  
  
Her baby sister was rocking back and forth in her bandages, sobbing softly to herself.  
  
Nefera rolls her eyes. It’s a good thing _she’s_ the eldest.  
  
The green-haired ghoul stares at the crack in the wall. That blighted bloomed bitch isn’t coming back. There isn’t an ounce of greenery as far as she can see. (Not that she can see much. Beyond the crack in the wall is more wall.)  
  
Groaning, Nefera collapses onto the floor. How the hell long have they been trapped in here? Without food? The only thing keeping them from withering away were the bandages and if they took those off, well, there’d be no more of _them_ to unwrap.  
  
Nefera turns over to glare at the corpse flower that put them in this mess. If Amanita ever showed her face, she’d be met with pruning shears. Or some other type of gardening instrument. Nefera knows she saw something among the jewels.  
  
Jewels as far as the tomb could hold.  
  
Nefera closes her eyes with a sigh.  
  
It’s difficult to discern time on a sundial without the sun. (Who even _put_ a sundial down here?)  
  
Staring at the crack in the wall staring back at her.  
  
Watching her father try and fail to manipulate the hardened sand around them.  
  
Listening to her father breathing and quietly consoling Cleo.  
  
And Cleo, whimpering and sniffling. She isn’t the only one suffering but Nefera would be damned (further) if she showed any weakness! The “perks” of being the spare heir; the child with none of the pressure to rule weighing her down. Cleo has the luxury to show her imperfections, but not too much she is still a de Nile.  
  
A loud _thump_ has Nefera springing to her feet. Their father, Ramses, is covered head to toe in bandages because he underestimated just how badly they all needed the bandages to survive and had half his body turn to dust before their eyes before he hastily applied bandages everywhere hoping to regrow his body but to no avail. The bandages are literally the only thing holding him – physically – together. He’s probably all hollowed out; dust instead of bones. Ramses looks over at Nefera who shrugs. Cleo is asleep in a half-opened sarcophagus.  
  
Every time Nefera sleeps, awakes, sleeps, wakes up again – Cleo is somewhere else. Where in Bastet’s name does she keep going? The tomb isn’t that big. Nefera’s had closets bigger than this tomb!  
  
Another _thump_ has Ramses get up and walk over to his first born. With another thump comes a pickaxe through the crack in the wall. Nefera screams holding onto her father.  
  
“ _Wait, was that a voice?_ ” A voice asks.  
  
Gasping, Nefera and Ramses look at each other. “Yes! Yes, it’s a voice!” The former yells. “We’re stuck down here!”  
  
Nefera and Ramses flinch when a yellow eyeball appears in the crack in the wall. “ _Holy dragonfire! P-People?! We’ll get you folks out in a jiffy!_ ”  
  
“We’re _saved_!” Nefera breathes hugging her father. “Sunlight. _Shopping_. People besides you and... Cleo. I feel like I haven’t treated my hair in a millennia!” She releases her hold on her father to limply comb through her hair with her fingers.  
  
Ramses heads over to the sarcophagus to wake Cleo up.  
  
A thump has Nefera jump, turning to the hexpanding crack in the wall. Wait—! People are going to see her – Nefera de Nile, nhext in line to _The de Nile fortune_ – looking as unkempt as she is! She shrieks, brushing past her father and sister to the clothing. There has to be something presentable she can put on.  
  
Fortunately, Nefera manages to put on a new outfit that her bandages match and put her hair in a low ponytail by the time the wall comes down.  
  
She steps in front of her father and Cleo to thank the... were...creatures (are those wererats!?) staring back at them. Nefera tilts her head to the left.  
  
The wererat with the pink hair spiked up rests their pickaxe against their left shoulder. “Whew. Being buried alive is never fun.” Another pink-haired wererat steps up offering a large bottle of water to Nefera, “you folks must be parched.”  
  
“Hexcuse me, Good Sir, do you mind telling us the date?” Ramses asks, thanking the wererat for his and Cleo’s water bottles. (Cleo totally unroyally gulps her water down.)  
  
“Date?” There are about eight wererats and they all look around at one another, “hmmm... don’t know the date hexact. Is it the fourteenth of fifteenth?”  
  
“Fi-Fifteenth.” The tall wererat in the back with the grey hair calls out.  
  
“Ah. Thanks. Then it is the fifteenth of Scaruary.”  
  
“Scaruary? W-What ...year?”  
  
“2020.” Nefera and Ramses gasp.  
  
Nefera puts both hands to her head, “ _T-Two thousand and twenty_!? I-It’s been over fifteen hundred years!? I’m in desperate need of moisturizer that doesn’t conflict with these bandages.” She moans out.  
  
“Wait a squeakond, f-fifteen hundred... years? You folks have been in this admittedly well-dressed tomb for over fifteen hundred years?! With no food? No water!? That’s... That’s scary impressive. Mummies are resilient folk. Let’s get you out in some sunshine, yeah?”  
  
Nefera pushes Cleo out of the way so she can be the first to get blinded by the sun. She screams putting a hand over her eyes. “Has the sun gotten brighter in fifteen hundred years?”  
  
“Could be.” One of the wererats chuckle.  
  
“Wait a second...” Ramses climbs out of the tunnel the wererats dug and looks around the desert. The scenery doesn’t look too different. A few hextra pyramids here and there and—  
  
Ramses gasps. His wife, Dedyet, is immortalized in limestone with her right hand in front of her. That’s hexactly how she looked when she was handing him Cleo.  
  
Cleo and Nefera stare at the sculpture in awe.  
  
It must’ve taken a century to create this. He doesn’t know what become of his wife. Hopefully, she found a way to mummify herself. She was initially the target of his brother-in-law’s desire to rule so she led them to the tombs and took off so her brother could give chase.  
  
“We’ve been finding lots of tombs all around this part of Screamgypt, but you folks are the first, well, people we dug up. We got stuff from 19... _wait_.” The wererat with the spiked up hair frowns, “uh... sorry. Didn’t catch _when_ hexactly you folks were placed in this tomb. Like... the hexact year.”  
  
Ramses taps his covered chin, “the year? 3810.”  
  
“ _Three—_ ” The wererats’ eyes widen as they stare at one another with various confused hexpressions. “Oh dear. Any year starting with a three’s gotta be BA.”  
  
“‘BA?’” Nefera repeats.  
  
“Before the Astranova comet. It’s how folks round these parts have been telling time.” The short white-haired wererat replies. “Before the comet is BA. ‘Before Astranova’ and after, well after is now and now is what we call AN. ‘After Nova.’” They clear their throat, “so... sorry to hafta be the harbinger of bad news, but... it hasn’t been fifteen hundred years. 3810 BA? That was roughly 5,800 years ago.”  
  
Nefera faints.

💎

The de Niles pyramid was empty when the wererats took them there. They fled to the border of their land but it was a lot of desert and very easy to get lost in. No wonder they were left for dead for so long. It had to be sheer luck Dedyet guided them to where most of the riches were buried. Every trace of Ramses de Nile, Dedyet de Nile, and their daughters were wiped from the slabs.  
  
“Look at it this way, Daddy, mumsy’s brother did us a favor. We’ll live on forever while he died a pitiful, no doubt _poor_ human looking for the riches he tried to kill us over. Ironic, don’t you think? The greatest gift he could’ve given us was try to kill us but ending up giving us eternal life instead. We win. The victory would be sweeter with mumsy but... I suppose we can’t let her death be in vain now can we?”  
  
“She isn’t gone.”  
  
Nefera rolls her eyes, turning to Cleo. “Oh come on Cleo, don’t be naive. There’s no way she could’ve survived.”  
  
“No.” Ramses shakes his head, “I feel it in my chest cavity. If anyone found a way to survive that long, it would be your mother. She’s the smartest, most resourceful woman I’ve ever known. And she did keep us alive. Or well, she helped us become undead. You know what I mean.”  
  
“Whatever. If you’ll hexcuse me, I am in desperate need of a hot shower.”  
  
“Nefera, mind the bandages.”  
  
She rolls her eyes, “ _yes, Daddy_.”  
  
In hexchange for their help, Ramses offered half the riches in the tomb they were found in to the wererats. And considering the de Nile family have the riches in not only that tomb but every tomb and pyramid in the general area, they can afford to pay someone. Besides, someone will need to be the mouths that re-announce the de Niles are back.  
  
“I think I’ll find a cask to soak in. I feel sand in between my bandages.”  
  
Ramses turns to his second-born. “Cleo, mind your bandages. We don’t know what will happen if you soak them.”  
  
“Don’t worry, Daddy, I’ll be careful.” Ramses sighs as Cleo leaves the room. A shower sounds good right about now. It’s a good thing they’re undead now. Though Ramses doesn’t know how many years they were bandaged from head to toe in sarcophagi to mummify them so they could remain among the living. He slowly unwraps the bandage on his left arm from the wrist and his hand immediately begins turning to dust. Sighing, he rewraps his hand. Feeling his hand reform underneath the bandages. He’ll need to find more bandages to keep himself and his daughters’ bodies intact. Immortality but with one glaring weakness. Same body just functions a bit differently. They need to keep themselves bandaged lest they turn to dust and cease to hexist among this world. He truly does hope Dedyet found a way to stay in this world. Although he feels she has, he also has doubts. An eternity without Dedyet? That would be torture.  
  
Hm. He’ll have to double wrap himself in bandages if he showers. The last thing he wants is for his daughters to discover his remains in the bath.

💎

The de Nile dynasty was formed from the sand up in Screamgypt by humans who (voluntarily?) went through their own mummification process to keep the family name whispered among the catacombs. There are slabs and hidden scrolls all throughout. There are... also slabs about murder and coups. So... _maybe_ they should’ve seen their uncle’s betrayal coming? What’s the life of someone wealthy without a healthy dose of fratricide? You know it’ll happen but you never think it’ll happen to you. [Ooh. Based on hisstory, Nefera would have to kill Cleo, wouldn’t she? Hmmm. _Nah_. Who will she blame if something goes wrong?]  
  
Growing up in the pyramids, Nefera was fascinated by her mummified relatives. They were essentially perfect. Elegant. Majestic. Had a commanding presence. Better equipped to make sure the dynasty lasted. Unless a bandage got snagged. Huh. Speaking of family, they probably have to search all the pyramids and every tomb to see if anyone else was buried undead.  
  
Nefera studied the mummification process (and her mother often questioned why. _Ha_! Who was the one with the “useless” scaritage knowledge now?). If it weren’t for Nefera, they wouldn’t know how to bandage themselves without dying. Well, okay, they technically _did_ die but the bandages preserved them. The spare heir was “preserved,” through mummification. As their name was forgotten in hisstory the first time around, they got a second chance at becoming someone. And while Nefera only learned about mummification to offer herself instead of Cleo (solely to keep herself from marrying that ...gross kid she was betrothed to), she wasn’t hexpecting to get mummified as early as she did! Like, right on her seventeenth birthday? Rude! **Someone** owes her 5,800 plus gifts!  
  
So the de Niles becoming mummies wasn’t... completely new news.  
  
The wererats gave them some “digi-tail” artifacts they could use to “get caught up” with everything in hisstory they missed while being buried undead for _5,800_ plus years. The nerve! Nefera would unleash a plague upon all those involved in their entombing if they were still around. She hopes they unearth the tiniest sliver of their remains she can torture.  
  
The green-haired teen rolls around in her soft bed. It was a bit overwhelming to look for everything she missed in the last 5,800 years. Thankfully, no one was around to see her get dizzy at the sheer shock of... _everything_.  
  
Nefera had a great life but it was far from perfect. It had one glaring flaw; attempted fratricide notwithstanding. Maybe this second chance will be the way to fix that?  
  
Fortunately, her father found bandages of all colors in the chambers behind the throne room. Now Nefera could, at the very least, color coordinate her bandages with her outfits.  
  
With a few days to herself to just think and not have to worry about if either of her remaining family members unraveled while she was asleep, Nefera discovered she didn’t have to be completely wrapped in bandages. Thank Geb for that. Obviously covering her face even remotely was a big no-no. The world needed to see the beauty of Nefera de Nile. If possible, she became even more beautiful after being mummified.  
  
Nefera covered her thighs and upper arms with bandages. Then changed her look around by covering her neck and shoulders.  
  
She was finding just about every possible way she could be bandaged and remain intact. Plus, the bandages also serve as protection from the sun. So covering her limbs during treks across the pyramids to avoid uncomfortable peeling. The amount of dead skin she washed off with her first bath after unraveling most of her bandages. It was shudder inducing.  
  
A harsh gust of wind has Nefera’s bedroom door flying open. She screams rolling off her bed, grabbing the sickle on the floor.  
  
“Nefera~” Nefera chuckles her weapon but it gets caught mid-throw by vines. “That’s some welcome.”  
  
“ _You_!” Nefera hisses, “oh my _Ra_! You have some cursed nerve slithering in here, Amanita!”  
  
“Aww.” The plant monster slithers over to Nefera wrapping both arms around the teen’s body, “don’t be grumpy, Ne. I tried finding help—”  
  
“Well, double bandage me in gold. _Of course_ you tried finding help.” Nefera moves Amanita’s hands and turns to her. “Get out of my room before I find the scissors.”  
  
“You wouldn’t hurt me, Ne. You and I? We’re joined forever by the corpse flower. Our connection is as solid as pyramid construction.”  
  
“Don’t give me that camelshit. You tried to find a way out of the tombs _for yourself_ but got stuck for only Thoth knows how long. When we were freed you followed my scent that lead you to me.”  
  
Amanita grins at her. “Do you have any idea how long it took to get mummified? I saw there in a tiny pot for 1,200 years. That’s how long corpse flowers bloom! I was practically mummified myself! Then when you got out of the sarcophagi, it was like nothing changed. No time passed. The only difference were the bandages. Then we waited, lurking in that tomb for another thousand years.”  
  
“Do you know what year it is? When you left and got stuck, which is fitting, 5,800 years total have passed.”  
  
“Fifty- _whatnow_?!”

💎

Cleo wraps up her hair in a bun and bandages the bun. These past few days she’s been hexperimenting with just how much bandage she can wear without getting dusted.

Cleo found some water and sweat resistant bandages in one the halls of the catacombs. She’d offer some to her sister but Nefera... is Nefera. Not to mention her sister got first pick at all the green and gold bandages!  
  
Hexploring the tombs and catacombs and all the pyramids was... an interesting hexperience but without her mother to chat with it’s been a bit lonely. Her father isn’t the most engaging conversationalist in the catacombs and _Nefera_? Forget it! She’d rather go it alone than listen to Nefera complain. It’s why she spent most of their time buried asleep. She couldn’t hear Nefera’s groans and sighs. And it’s Nefera’s fault they ended up like this anyway! “Hm?” Something nudges her leg. Looking down, Cleo sees an ash blue snake rubbing up against her leg. “Oh Thoth, you are adorable!” Giggling, Cleo kneels down allowing the snake to slither onto her arm. She had the power to charm snakes before getting mummified. All she did while they were entombed was try to contact something that could reach them but maybe they were buried too deep?  
  
Cleo stands up and resumes her walk, with her new friend coiling around her neck and nuzzling her face.  
  
Unsurprisingly, the first thing the three of them ate was immediately regurgitated. She doesn’t know about her family, but it took Cleo three days of the smallest bites of food imaginable before her stomach was reintroduced to the idea of eating again. (Well, at least she knows she can last without eating. It’s not the most pleasant feeling in the world, but she can and has beared it. She’s also beared living in proximity to Nefera for _over_ _5,800 years_! Plus, the fourteen in which they weren’t squished in a tomb together. Cleo de Nile can do **anything**!)  
  
A spider climbs down its web in front of her path and Cleo screams. Being entombed gave her clawstrophobia and arachnophobia. (There were actual _words_ for them now!) Her new friend hisses then eats the spider. _Ooh_. Cleo pets the snake’s head, “very nice. I think I’ll call you Hissette.” The snake hisses in delight nuzzling her face again. “You’re an affectionate little thing, aren’t you? Let’s get you in some jewels.”

💎

Ramses sees Cleo chatting amicably with a snake wrapped around her neck and shoulders through his reflection in the full length mirror.  
  
“ _Daddy_!” Nefera shrieks shattering part of the mirror. Ramses’ eldest angrily rounds the corner. “Daddy, when are we going to _leave_ this place? It’s been a week! Haven’t we spent enough time being trapped here?” Nefera whirls around spotting Cleo, “ _you_ agree, don’t you?”  
  
The snake hisses at Nefera who glares. Cleo tilts her head to the right, “I understand Daddy’s hesitation. We can’t trust anyone.” Nefera opens her mouth, “ _at the same time_ —” Cleo continues and Nefera snaps her mouth shut, “bridges need to be molded, Daddy. Our only allies are wererats who we will forever be indeadbted to.”  
  
Ramses sees an impressed hexpression on Nefera’s face before she schools her features, “never thought I’d say this... but Cleo has a point, Daddy. We can’t mold bridges if we don’t get out there and put the tools to work. Screamgypt will always be here... hopefully. But we’re scarabs who need to fly—” Nefera pauses, “and adorned with jewels from other places.” Cleo nods in agreement. “And think of all the antiques we can introduce to the world~ Antiques that let the world know the amazingness of the de Niles!”  
  
“Staying shut up in here would be a waste.” Cleo joins in, “we very well could be the last de Niles alive or undead. You’ll have to marry Nefera off soon.” Nefera gasps.  
  
“ _What_?! Why can’t he marry _you_ off?”  
  
“I’m not _the heir to the legacy_ , Nefera.” Cleo dramatically rolls her eyes. “ _Everyone_ knows that.” Nefera growls.  
  
“No one would want to marry you anyway!”  
  
“What? I’m perfectly marriable...! I-I just don’t want to get married right now. I’m only four—four... five-thousand four... eight?” Cleo shakes her head. “I’m still only physically fourteen!”  
  
“And I’m physically seventeen! I should have lots of single life before I get shoved into a marriage—”  
  
“Enough!” Ramses bellows. His daughters freeze, then turn toward him. Part of him is glad to see them acting like themselves again, and the other part is craving a headache curing elixir. When they first awoke from the entombment, they argued like normal but then after Amanita left, Nefera fell silent. Which Ramses appreciated _at first_ but then he grew to miss his eldest’s voice, then Cleo stopped talking and Ramses felt himself on the brink of madness. He would’ve given up his crown for silence before the mummification, during it? He would’ve given anything for the sound of their bickering. Now that they’re post mummification, he’s leaning back toward giving his crown up. Nevertheless, he clears throat. “I agree with you two.” They blink at him. “However, the world has no doubt changed. _We_ have changed. It has always been the de Nile way to prepare beforehand and that is one constant that will not change. It has been approximately 5,828 years since we’ve been surrounded by other people. I will not thrust the most important people in my life out into a world we do not understand without being properly prepared. These... devices the wererats were kind enough to give us can only teach us so much. We do need.... hexposure to the outside world. As Nefera said, Screamgypt will always be here. Home to the de Niles. But who is to say that has to be our only home? We will find a place where we belong... and we will rule it, the de Nile way.”  
  
Nefera and Cleo run over to each other and hug, jumping in the air.  
  
“I wonder how much the wererats will charge for helping us move?”

💎

Being humans born with powers and having mummy relatives, the de Niles did not have a relatively... normal lifestyle. For one, they lived in pyramids that withstood the test of time.  
  
Another was, they were the rare human-ish being living among the monster realm.

Being fabulously wealthy, the girls were pyramid-schooled by the greatest scholars Screamgypt had to offer.

According to the map, deserts are... few and far between in the monster realm. Going somewhere too cold wouldn’t work, the same with going somewhere too wet. They needed an arid environment.  
  
Ramses massages his temples as he looks over the map. He and Dedyet did a lot of traveling before the girls were born; they even did a little traveling when Dedyet was pregnant with Nefera.  
  
But Nefera proved to be not the greatest traveling companion with her sea and air sickness, causing them to travel less and less then eventually stop.  
  
Five-thousand eight-hundred twenty-eight years. While his daughters are right about the need to mold bridges, all of Ramses' old contacts are no doubt dead and their descendants unaware of his hexistence to continue their alliances.  
  
Dedyet was the charming one, without her it’ll be difficult to... begin the molding process. Before the mummification, Ramses hadn’t spent more than a fortnight away from his lovely wife. And that time occurred when she caught ill, pregnant with Cleo, and had to be transported to another village for aid. Cleo ended up being born two months in advance making Ramses unable to witness the birth of his second daughter or be part of the first week of her life.  
  
The wererats, appropriately named the Kings, have proven to be invaluable allies and not just because they were natural diggers. They had connections. Their scaritage was tied to Screamgypt and they head of the family was currently residing in Boo York. Ramses never knew the family in the pyramids to the north of them before the mummification. Now seems like the perfect time to rectify that.  
  
💎

“You’re gonna love Boo York.” Mouscedes says to Cleo, petting Hissette on Cleo’s shoulders. Her father wanted her to learn her scaritage first hand so he sent her to Screamgypt with the digging team. Unfortunately, the only thing Ramses saw Mouscedes learn was how much she liked Cleo. Since they met, shortly after Cleo found Hissette (and Nefera complained about wanting to leave), they were inseparable. Well, that’s the silver script in the scroll. If their daughters made friends, why not follow their hexample?  
  
Some of the amulets and artifacts couldn’t leave Screamgypt and retain its value so they ended up only taking about a tenth of everything.  
  
It took twelve hours in a scair-plane (a fascinating better mode of air travel. They beat the hell out of the scair “balloons”), and three additional hours by boat. As hexpected, Nefera got airsick and seasick during the travel.  
  
The city of Boo York was overwhelming. Large brick buildings were everywhere. It must’ve been 6,000 years since Ramses was surrounded by material that wasn’t sand. Especially when it came to housing.  
  
“That’s the Werewoof Agoria bootel.” Mouscedes gesturing to the large building and Nefera and Cleo look out the grimo window to see it. “It’s the most famous bootel in Boo York. It’s got a five scare rating.” The King family was partly responsible for creating Boo York’s catacombs as well as the upper parts of the city. With the wealth they unearthed from the digging, they made a name for themselves in Boo York’s Upper Beast Side. In addition to living in Boo York, the kings had family in Scaris, Boo Goreleans, Batlanta, and Lost Fangeles. They were _very_ well connected and Ramses couldn’t wait to become one of their connections. Though, it’ll be a while until they get on equal footing with them owing the Kings for finding them in the tomb. Even if it was an accident trying to find their own tombs.  
  
“If that’s true, why are we moving away from it?” Nefera asks.  
  
“You’ll be staying at the King sparkpartments. My family owns and—” She squeaks, “built it. Uh, Mr. de Nile?” Ramses turns to her, “since Cleo showed me shopping in Screamgypt. I mean I am a changed ghoul after that hexperience. I thought I’d be too much of a city ghoul to ‘rough it’ around sand but I never been happier to be wrong. Anyway, is it alright if I snag Cleo for a while? I wanna show her shopping Boo York style. Return the favor. I’m a fair-minded ghoul like that.”  
  
Ramses meets his youngest’s eyes before turning to Mouscedes. “Of course.”  
  
Cleo grabs Mouscedes hands, “this will be fangtabulous.”  
  
“A total undeaducational hexperience.” Nefera rolls her eyes as the younger ghouls gush to each other. At least Cleo’s not being annoyingly mopey. She’s just being her regular amount of annoying. Huh. Nefera never thought she’d _miss that_.  
  
Finally the grimo stops, and Nefera is out the door as soon as it’s open for her. She looks up at the building in awe. It’s actually fancier looking than the Werewoof bootel but also a bit more inviting.  
  
Mouscedes and Cleo hexit the grimo arm-in-arm blabbing about whatever.  
  
Mouscedes shows them around the sparkpartment building, then takes them to an empty three-bedroom sparkpartment on the floor beneath the top floor, but takes Cleo with her when she leaves.  
  
Not even a minute after Mouscedes leaves a woman wearing a navy suit appears in the doorway side-by-side with someone wearing a pharaoh headdress covering their entire face. “Oh. Well, a big Boo York welcome to you, Ramses de Nile.” Nefera and her father turn to the woman. “Amuncommon Ptolemy.” She shakes Ramses’ hand. “My family has done business with the de Niles in the past, back when they were still in Screamgypt. I see no reason for us not to continue that trend.”  
  
“It would be our honor.”  
  
“Ours as well. This is my son, Seth.” He inclines his head.  
  
“My daughter Nefera.” She gives an unenthusiastic wave, “my other daughter Cleo is with—”  
  
“Mouscedes King? Yes, she has a habit of kidnapping anyone who squeaks her interest. When she grabbed onto my Seth, I hadn’t seen him for four days. I suppose it’s for the best. Nhext to my family, of course, the Kings are _the_ Boo York family leading hexample of hexcellence. No greater family is better connected. You’d have no canes to lean upon if you cross them.”  
  
“Noted.” Nefera does a double take as her father gives her a stern look.  
  
“And since we are going to be molding bridges, we should have brunch. Seth, be a dear and show Nefera around the city?”  
  
He inclines his head, “yes, mother.” Nefera raises an eyebrow at him, “follow me, please.” Rolling her eyes, she reluctantly follows.

💎

“Catty Noir? Casta and the Spells? Luna Mothews? DJ Elle Eedee?” Cleo shakes her head. “Okay. Those are all recent. Let me try some classics. Frank-de-fied? Mystic Mystics? The Mummies? Percy and the Sirens? Blackplaguestreet?” Cleo shakes her head again. “You really _have_ been entombed forever! Don’t you wormy, ghoul, I got you covered like your bandages. I’ll tell you all you need to know. Boo York gets a bad rep—” She squeaks, “and sure some of it is justified, but for the most part? This city is the best. And I’m sorry about thinking Screamgypt was all sand and no substance.”  
  
“Screamgypt gets a common misconception for being like that. Little do they know we _invented_ shopping. But I’d appreciate any way I could learn and do some shopping. Not to mention the time away from Nefera.” They both laugh.  
  
Mouscedes shows her all her haunts.  
  
Cleo tries haunt dogs, creeperoni pizza, scourros, macabrons – all the street foods Boo York has to offer. She’s just grateful she can ingest them without throwing up.  
  
“What is in this coffin-ccino?” Cleo asks, angling her cup to look in the straw  
  
“I think it’s raspscary—”  
  
“ _Mouscedes_!” The wererat gets hugged from behind by something—or rather some _one_ Cleo can’t see. Mouscedes laughs as she’s released. A green-skinned ghoul with jet black hair blinks at Cleo. “Spells and hexes, who is this cutie?”  
  
Cleo blushes as the ghoul hugs her. “Cleo, this is Casta Fierce. She’s a hugger.”  
  
“I’ve realized.” Cleo chuckles.  
  
“Casta, this is Cleo de Nile.”  
  
Casta reluctantly lets go of Cleo. “Where have you been hiding this one, Mous? A treasure like her belongs on the Boo York skyline!” Her eyes widen, “ _ooh_. That makes for a good gorus.”  
  
“You know. That reminds me. I’ll take you to meet the ghouls!”  
  
“Scary good idea! A cute new face will deadfinitely lift our spirits and help with our collaboltration song! Worst case of frighter’s block I’ve ever seen in my undead life.”  
  
Casta hails them a taxi and they head to the studio. When they enter the room, Cleo sees a black werecat with long haunt pink curly hair slumped against a podium with her head up. A yellow moth with brown hair in twintails is fluttering in the air above the podium, upside down. A green swamp ghoul with tight green curls in an afro is on the floor, on her back, nhext to the werecat with some kind of device in her hand. Lastly, there is a translucent skinned? being with purple-blue hair leaning face down against the other side of the podium.  
  
“Uh, sorry to interrupt this jam session?” They all turn to the door and gasp.  
  
“Mouscedes!” They all cheer running toward the wererat, group hugging her.  
  
“Wait!” The moth yells breaking free from the group hug, floating over to Cleo. “Who’s this ghoul? A new talent you booked, Mouscedes?”  
  
“Oh no. Well, not yet. Ghouls, this is Cleo de Nile. We met during my dad’s digging trip in Screamgypt. I’m showing her around Boo York. Ooh!” She squeaks, “don’t overwhelm her, it’s been _a while_ since she’s been around a lot of monsters.”  
  
“We’re just the ghouls to help!” The swamp monster ghoul proclaims pointing to herself, “charmed to meet you, Cleo. I’m Honey.”  
  
“Hey, I’m Catty.” The werecat says with a wave.  
  
“Dee. Jay. Ellle Eedee.” Says the purple-blue haired ghoul, moving her arms up and down.  
  
“And I’m Luna. What do you do? Sing? Dance?” Luna gasps, “do you do _mime_? I never understood the climbing.” She gasps again, “shadow puppets!”  
  
Elle puts a hand on Luna, “you’re doing the opposite of not overwhelm.”  
  
“Oh. Sorry about that.”  
  
“J-Just how long has it been since you’ve been around other monsters, Cleo?” Catty asks.  
  
“Hexcluding... my sister and daddy? Uh, let’s see? How long did they say again? Uh, 5,828 years?” Everyone gapes at Cleo. “My... uncle tried killing us and taking our family’s riches. My... My mumsy led us to the entombing, well, tombs. We had to get mummified and then were trapped in the tomb until Mouscedes family found and freed us.”  
  
“Well, that just takes my spells away.” Casta mutters.  
  
“No wonder you don’t know any music groups from the past 1,000 years!” Mouscedes gasps.  
  
“Fratricide.” Honey whispers, “rarely hear about those stories anymore...”  
  
“So, wait...” Elle scratches her head, “if you were entombed... what were you before getting entombed?” Everyone looks at Elle then Cleo.  
  
“Oh! I was human; mostly. Mummy ran on my mumsy’s side of the family.”  
  
“So, if you weren’t part mummy you wouldn’t’ve been able to be mummified?” Luna asks.  
  
“I... really don’t know? It’s only been a week since we got out of the tomb. I’d...” Cleo shudders, “I’d have to ask my sister, Nefera.”  
  
“Hold on! Trying to process almost 6,000 years of information would short-circuit you!” Luna pauses, “uh... sorry Elle. No offense.”  
  
“No wormies. I get it. Six minutes of following the latest skelebrity gossip is enough to short-circuit.” The others nod in agreement.  
  
“We don’t want you completely lost... and we don’t want to overwhelm you.” Catty sighs, “we’re trying to pick between a ball of yarn and a box.” The others look among themselves and shrug.  
  
“Maybe.” Elle twists her body as she speaks, “we can give you a crash course in monster hisstory’s most important moments. Break it down. Piece. By. Piece.”  
  
“Are you malfunctioning, El?” Luna asks.  
  
Elle chuckles, “nope. All good. Now...” She clears her throat, “Moanatella Ghostier: 1970 AN. A brilliant but reclusive fashion diesigner unveils her first piece!”  
  
“Hold up, y’all!” Honey interrupts, “let’s make this hisstory lesson interactive. Moanatella Ghostier started in Boo York before moving to Scaris and becoming _the_ biggest name in fashion.”  
  
“Ah! The Boo York underground!” Catty puts her left fist in her right hand. “All the skelebrity diesginers got their start there.”  
  
“Start Cleo off with the underground and work our way topside?” Mouscedes asks, “it’s brilliant!” She squeaks.  
  
“The underground city life is much more hexciting but a lot less overwhelming.” Honey says with a chuckle. “Shucks. Found that out the hard way. This city ain’t for the faint of heart. Or even those without a fainting heart.”  
  
“Uh... I move that we change our footwear if we’re gonna show Cleo the underground of Boo York.” Catty suggests. “Walking the underground in heels is not the best way to travel.”  
  
“True.” Mouscedes says. “Let’s head to the sparkpartments and change shoes. Uh... I think I still have a pair of flats you wore last time, Casta.”  
  
“I’m sorry I have bigger feet than the rest of you ghouls.”

💎

“You can stop the dutiful son act.” Nefera says folding her arms over her chest, leaning back in the elevator watching Seth. Amanita was in her “blooming form” latched onto Nefera’s ponytail.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The elevator door opens and they walk out of it.  
  
“Of course you don’t.” Nefera rolls her eyes, “look, I know many things have changed in the past 5,800 years but children hiding things from their parents? That’ll never not be a thing. You’re probably not even the real Seth. Who would know with the headdress?”  
  
He chuckles, “can’t believe I never thought of having someone fill in for me. I can assure you, Ms. de Nile.” He takes the headdress off, “I am the real Seth Ptolemy.”  
  
Nefera smirks. Cute. That’s definitely an improvement over the dead-eyed stare (and not in a good way) behind the headdress, “and just what would the real Seth Ptolemy be doing escorting a beautiful ghoul through her first time in Boo York?”  
  
Seth hexpertly tosses his headdress into a bin around the corner then hextends his arm that Nefera puts her arm through. “We’d be hitting the underground of Boo York to hexperience the best the city has to offer.”  
  
“Now you’re talking.”


End file.
